Funding including Pupil Premiuim Plus

Pupil Premium Plus is funding to help improve the attainment of children in care and to close the attainment gap between this group and their peers. 

The funding is managed by the Virtual School Head in the Local Authority that looks after the child and is used for the benefit of the child’s educational needs as described in their Personal Education Plan (PEP).

How to Apply for Pupil Premium Plus Funding

Schools can apply for up to £300 per term through the child's termly EPEP. Nottingham City Virtual School retains some of the PPP funding to provide interventions and support for its children in care. A list of interventions is detailed in Annex A of our current PPP policy. 

Contact the child's Education Support Officer at the Virtual School if support is required requesting the termly funding.   

The termly application windows for the 2025/2026 financial year (starting 1st April 2025) are:

• Autumn term 2025 - 2 September to 5th December 2025
• Spring term 2026 - 5th January to 13th February 2026
• Summer term 2026 - 13th April to 10 July 2026

Spring term arrangements - in order to process payments in time for the financial year end close down (31st March 2027), all requests for PPP funding should be submitted by the specified date in February 2027 – the Virtual School will email Designated Teachers during the Spring term to confirm the arrangements for that term.  

Any applications received after 1st April 2027 relating to the 2026/2027 financial year cannot be considered under the DFE's Pupil Premium Plus terms of grant. 

Additional Funding Requests

Schools have an opportunity to apply for additional funding over and above the £300 termly allocation. The same termly application window for the currently financial year as outlined above also applies for these requests. Schools can make an additional funding request in the same way in which termly Pupil Premium Plus requests are made and select the option 'Request Additional PPP+' from the drop down option on the EPEP. This enables the Virtual School Head to differentiate between requests for the termly allocation and additional funding requests. Additional funding requests are from the annual Pupil Premium Plus Grant from the DFE.  

Pupil Premium Plus payment process

To receive PPP payments, schools must be registered as suppliers on Nottingham City Council’s financial system.  Contact the Virtual School Pupil Premium Plus finance officer on tel 0115 8764694 or email ppp@nottinghamcity.gov.uk to check the school is set up as a supplier.   

Who is eligible for Pupil Premium Plus funding?

Nottingham City children in care of statutory school age (Reception to Year 11) are eligible for Pupil Premium Plus funding.

Please note: children in care of nursery age come under Early Years Pupil Premium which is administered by the Early Years Team. For further information, contact the Virtual School on 0115 8764694. 

How can Pupil Premium Plus be used?

Pupil Premium Plus is in place to benefit the child in care and must be used to enhance and improve their educational outcomes and experience. The child/young person’s voice and their specific needs are of central importance in considering the use of Pupil Premium Plus funding and should be incorporated in their Personal Education Plan.

There is no one specific intervention that will meet/improve/enhance the educational needs of every child in care; children’s needs vary and can change significantly. What follows, therefore, are example interventions the Nottingham City Virtual School are likely to approve Pupil Premium Plus funding, based on our general understanding of ‘what works’ in improving and enhancing educational outcomes and experience:

• One to one tuition
• Booster sessions
• Nurture groups
• Therapeutic sessions
• Behaviour support
• Extracurricular activity sessions

For further ideas and information on how to use PPP, you can visit the Education Endowment Fund website

Circumstances where Pupil Premium Plus will not be provided:

Pupil Premium Plus will not be provided if it is being used to double fund or replace funding which should already have been allocated to support the child; example circumstances where Pupil Premium Plus will not be provided include:

• To fund services that should be provided as part of Special Education Needs (SEN) support or an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
• To fund statutory work and/or services
• Where the school’s own funding covers the cost of the intervention.
• To fund activities that are expected to be covered by fostering allowances
• To fund activities/interventions not detailed or aligned to the child’s PEP

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16-19 Bursary

This is also known as the Vulnerable Student Bursary.

What the bursary is for:

The bursary is money that a child in care, their education or training provider, can use to pay for things like:

• Clothing, books and other equipment for their course
• Transport and lunch on days they study or train

Eligibility - children in care must:

• be at least 16 and under 19 on 31 August of the year they are applying
• study at a publicly funded school or college, or be on an unpaid training course
• meet the residency requirements – their school or college can check this
• they’re in or recently left local authority care

For further guidance, please select one of the following links.

• 16-19 Bursary Fund - 16 to 19 Bursary Fund - GOV.UK
• Eligibility - 16 to 19 Bursary Fund Eligibility - GOV.UK
• How to claim - 16 to 19 Bursary Fund How to claim - GOV.UK

University Funding 

• Information about University Funding - GOV.UK
• Extra money from your university or college to study - GOV.UK

Care to Learn Funding 

• Information about childcare funding for parents under the age of 20
• Care to Learn: Overview - GOV.UK

School Funding (EYFS) Pupil Premium Plus

Children who attend a reception class and are in care are eligible for Pupil Premium Plus. They would access this via the Personal Education Plan as outlined in the above section.

Good examples of how to use Pupil Premium Plus to maximise educational progress can be found in the Early Years Toolkit provided by the Education Endowment Foundation. Please click on the attached link:

Early Years Education Endowment Foundation Early Years Toolkit

The Virtual School is responsible for monitoring and ensuring Pupil Premium Plus is being used for the educational benefit of the looked after child. Schools will therefore be required to report on the educational attainment of that child and the intended impact of the funding on the child’s educational outcomes and experience in Early Years PEP Meetings. Schools will also be required to report on the impact of Pupil Premium Plus funding received.

Nursery/pre-school Funding

This is a government grant which Early Years providers can apply for via an online portal. 

It is for supporting children between 9 months to 4 years old in their settings.

It equates approximately £570 for 2025/26 academic year if 15 hours of free childcare are accessed and nurseries can apply for it three times per year in the autumn, spring and summer terms.

For children looked after, Early Years Pupil Premium can be claimed by a nursery through the Government’s online portal. The foster carer or social worker have to make the nursery aware that the child is looked after and the child has to be aged 9 months to 4 years old, but not be aged 4 attending a school’s Reception class. Once the Early Years Personal Education Plan (PEP) has been quality assured by the Education Support Officer at the Virtual School, the funding will be paid to the provision at the end of each term.

The nursery or pre-school setting will ask parents to self-declare that their child meets the eligibility for the Early Years Pupil Premium. It is not compulsory, but it helps the provider if parents or foster carers are willing to provide this information. The provider will need to see supporting evidence of the child’s eligibility.

Early Years Pupil Premium can be claimed by the early education provider, via their local authority’s Online Portal, if a child at their setting is accessing free early education up to 15 hours per week and the child is:

• aged 3 or 4 (but not 4 year olds in reception class at school)
• living in England
• currently a looked after child of the local authority

The Virtual School have a responsibility for monitoring and ensuring Early Years Pupil Premium is being used for the educational benefit of each looked after child. Schools and PVIs will therefore be required to report on the educational attainment of each looked after child and the intended impact of the funding on the child’s educational outcomes and experience in PEP Meetings. Schools and PVIs will also be required to report on the impact of any funding received. We will ensure there is a clear and simple way in which schools are to report the impact of the Early Years Pupil Premium funding.

Pupil Premium Plus (PPP) is given directly to a school when a child is recorded as being previously looked after on the schools October Census. Schools are not automatically told children are previously-looked-after so many schools ask in their application packs and rely on parents/guardians/carers to let them know. 

The 2026/2027 amount per child is £2690. 

Pupil Premium Plus is used to improve the academic outcomes of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities and to close the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers.

The government guidance for how schools should use the grant can be found on the Gov.uk website: Using Pupil Premium Guidance for School Leaders. The additional information section gives more detail for previously-looked-after children.

You can ask how the school is spending the money.

Early Years Pupils can also access the Early Years Pupil Premium funding. Please let your childcare setting know if your child is previously-looked-after so they can apply for this. 

We have a parent guide to Pupil Premium Plus on our Previously-Looked-After Padlet.  

The Adoption and Special Guardianship Fund

The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund provides financial support to children and their parents/guardians. 

This can be used to fund a range of interventions including therapies. More information can be found here

To apply contact your Permanency social worker or contact Adoption East Midlands at: AdoptionSupport@adoptioneastmidlands.nottscc.gov.uk

SEND funding is allocated via the city council. Their web pages can be found below. 

Personal Budgets - Nottingham City

Early Years - Nottingham City Council

Special Educational Needs Provision and Funding Processes - Nottingham City